Forgetting is one small step ... one Giant leap

JONES

It is better this way, Brian Dawkins said. Better that the Eagles play right away, that they have an instant opportunity to wipe away the memory -- some of it, anyway -- of the Giant debacle.

"When you have a bad taste in your mouth, go eat something else," the Eagles safety said Wednesday, as he looked ahead to a potential bounce-back game Sunday in San Francisco.

Or, he said, "Best to get right back on the horse."

Pick a metaphor, any metaphor.

Suffice it to say that the Birds, be it by horseback or other means, have arrived at the same purgatory visited by every Philadelphia franchise after every gut-punch loss through the years (and there have been plenty).

There are murals devoted to Joe Carter and Joe Jurevicius in this place. An audio system that plays Johnny Most's raspy Havlicek-stole-the-ball call for all eternity. An endless supply of Red Auerbach-approved cigars.

And, as Dawkins suggested, a rancid 24-hour buffet.

The Birds know the place well. Too well.

"There are games that we've played in my career here that were worse than that [loss to the Giants]," Donovan McNabb said.

"I can think of three of them, right off-hand, that have felt way worse than that," Dawkins said, referring to back-to-back-to-back losses in the NFC Championship Game.

He was hard-pressed to remember a regular-season defeat that stung like last Sunday's, but no matter. He and his teammates know how they wound up in this oh-so-bleak place, and would like to think they know the way out. That they can follow the same well-worn path they always have. That it's just a matter of playing, and playing well.

As McNabb said, doing so against the 49ers is "very important for the morale of the team, and the confidence."

History would suggest that a recovery is not only possible, but likely. The Birds blew a lead in losing their 2002 season opener to Tennessee, but bounced back to go 12-4. They lost the inaugural game in Lincoln Financial Field to begin the following year, to Tampa Bay (and fell the next week, to New England, as well), but again wound up 12-4.

And those three conference title-game losses never seemed to sting too much, once the following year began.

The caveat is the youth of this year's team. The roster is dotted with players who just arrived this season, or whose only touchstone is that lovely 2005 campaign.

"It's a good mixture," Dawkins said. "I don't know if I would say it's a veteran team. We have a lot of veterans, yes, but there's a lot of youth sprinkled in there. I don't have to particularly learn to keep the hammer down. I've learned my lesson in the past, because things have happened. Some games have been lost that same way in the past, so I pretty much know what to expect."

A great many others need to learn, or are learning.

"I think the best way for me to handle the situation for the rest of the guys is just show that it's not affecting me," McNabb said.

Even if that's not necessarily true.

"I wouldn't say that I've completely forgotten about this particular game," he admitted, "but I've moved on. That's something you have to do in this league. You can't dwell on the past."

Coach Andy Reid repeated his we've-moved-on mantra a few times during his meeting with reporters. Must have meant it, too, seeing as he actually raised his voice above a whisper.

"We're not going backwards an inch," he said.

Really, they have no choice; the schedule beckons. It is now a matter of mindset over matter. Of the veterans leading, and the kids following.

Of everyone, together, finding the best way out of the purgatory in which they find themselves.